Washington Redskins Name And Logo Gone After 87 Years

WASHINGTON, DC — Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder bowed to public and corporate pressure Monday, announcing the team is getting rid of the Redskins name after 87 years with it. The sports franchise said it plans to reveal a new name at a later date.

The preferred replacement name reportedly is caught up in a trademark fight, which is why the team could not announce the new name Monday.

On July 3, the team said it was conducting a "thorough review" of the team's name. "Today, we are announcing we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review," the team said Monday in a statement.

Snyder and Washington head coach Ron Rivera are "working closely to develop a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition-rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years," the statement read.

The decision to change the name comes after Snyder famously said in 2013 that he would never change the team name, when asked about protests and lawsuits against the nickname.

"We'll never change the name," Snyder told USA Today in 2013. "It's that simple. NEVER — you can use caps."

For decades, Native Americans and others criticized the team for using what they deemed a racial slur for its nickname. But the NFL and the team's corporate sponsors stood behind Snyder and the team's previous owner, Jack Kent Cooke, who refused to acknowledge the troubling nature of the name in the face of years of protests and lawsuits.

Everything changed when George Floyd died in late May under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. Protests against Floyd's death spread from Minneapolis across the country, with demonstrators calling for racial justice. That anger carried over to other parts of American society, with the public calling for a reckoning with the atrocities committed against Native Americans and the profiting by sports teams off Native Americans and their imagery.

Ironically, it was when the team visited Minneapolis to play the Minnesota Vikings and when the team played the Buffalo Bills in the 1992 Super Bowl in Minneapolis that they faced the most passionate protests from Native Americans against the team name.

Similar to the disbelief felt over how statues honoring the Confederacy are still standing prominently across large parts of the country, many wondered how a major sports franchise could still be called the Redskins in 2020.

Within the last two weeks, FedEx, which owns the naming rights to Washington's stadium, asked the team to change its name. The team then announced it was conducting a "thorough review" of the team's name.

FedEx signed a $205 million stadium naming rights deal with the team in 1999. On July 2, the company notified the team in a letter that unless it changes its name, FedEx will remove its signage from the stadium after the NFL’s 2020 season, six years before the deal’s expiration, the Washington Post reported Friday.

After FedEx called for the name change two weeks ago, Nike removed all Redskins merchandise from its online store. The next morning, the Redskins announced the team was launching its review of the same. Soon after, PepsiCo., Bank of America and Nike followed with statements supporting the step and a change in team name.

Last week, Amazon announced it was removing Redskins merchandise from its site, following the lead of mega-retailers Walmart and Target, which had previously announced they were pulling gear with the Redskins name and emblem from their sites.

The Washington franchise was formed in 1932 as the Boston Braves in Boston under the ownership of George Preston Marshall. The following year, the team changed to the Boston Redskins. The team relocated south from Boston to Washington in 1937.

Last month, the team announced plans to remove George Preston Marshall's name from all official team material, including its Ring of Fame, History Wall and website. Marshall, the football team's founding owner, was the last NFL owner to integrate his team's roster. He signed the team's first Black player in 1962 — Bobby Mitchell — only because the federal government threatened to prevent him from playing in D.C. Stadium, now known as RFK Stadium.

For decades, Native American and other groups have been calling on the Redskins to change the name. Protests against the name have been held outside FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, and at other stadiums around the league. Native American groups and individuals have unsuccessfully filed trademark lawsuits against the team for its use of the Redskins name.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser recently said the Redskins should change their name if they want to move back to the District. "I think it's past time for the team to deal with what offends so many people," Bowser said in a radio interview. "And this is a great franchise with a great history that's beloved in Washington. And it deserves a name that reflects the affection that we've built for the team."

Last week, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said during a TV appearance to promote his memoir, amid speculation he's testing the waters for presidential run in 2024, that it's time for the Redskins to change the NFL team's name. Hogan's state has hosted the team's games for more than two decades.